Latest news with #DavidBrunnstrom
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Britain's AUKUS adviser briefs US and Australian officials on project review
By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Britain's special representative for the AUKUS defense project, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, has been briefing U.S. officials in Washington this week about a review of the project he presented to the British government this year, a British official said on Thursday. The AUKUS defense partnership was formed in 2021 by Australia, the United States and Britain to address shared worries about China's growing power. It envisages Australia acquiring U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines from 2032 and its deployment from 2040 of a new class of submarine built jointly with Britain using U.S. technology, as well as development of advanced weapons such as hypersonic missiles. Lovegrove, Britain's national security adviser when AUKUS was formed, was commissioned last year to review Britain's progress towards meeting its core commitments under the project and identify barriers to success. A British official told Reuters Lovegrove had briefed Pentagon officials and senior U.S. lawmakers on his report and was also due to meet officials of the U.S. State Department. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lovegrove has also discussed the report with Australian officials in London and Washington and will travel to Australia soon, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Lovegrove's Washington visit comes just ahead of a national election in Australia on Saturday. The two main parties contesting the poll back AUKUS, which is Australia's biggest-ever defense project, but the opposition Liberal Party had been more vocal on the need to step up defense spending. Before Australia takes ownership of submarines under AUKUS, four U.S. and one British commanded submarines will provide a "rotational force" at Australia's Indian Ocean naval base in Perth from 2027, giving Washington a coveted strategic position to operate from in the Indo-Pacific. Trump's tariff plans have raised some concerns about AUKUS in Australia and questions remain as to whether Washington can boost U.S. submarine production to meet its own targets and allow sales to Australia. Among other obstacles, U.S. controls on sensitive defense exports, relaxed for Australia and Britain and the AUKUS project last year, still apply to certain submarine technology, requiring the issuance of special licenses that can be time-consuming to obtain. There have been concerns too about the Australian Labor government's reluctance to discuss using AUKUS submarines against China, something that could hurt U.S. deterrence efforts in the Indo-Pacific if U.S. vessels are transferred.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US families accuse Palestinian-American billionaire of facilitating Hamas attacks
By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American families of victims of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel filed a lawsuit on Monday against a prominent Palestinian-American businessman, Bashar Masri, charging that he provided assistance in constructing infrastructure that allowed Hamas militants to carry out their cross-border rampage. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., is thought to be the first case of a U.S. citizen being accused of providing major support for the attacks that triggered a wider Middle East conflict and upended the region. Masri's office called the lawsuit "baseless." According to a statement announcing the lawsuit, properties Masri owned, developed and controlled, including two luxury hotels and the leading industrial zone in Gaza – the Gaza Industrial Estate - "concealed tunnels underneath them, and had tunnel entrances accessible from within the properties, which Hamas used in terrorist operations before, on and after October 7th." "Defendants facilitated the construction and concealment of those tunnels and even built above-ground solar panel installations that they then used to supply Hamas with electricity to the tunnels," it said. The October 7 attacks killed some 1,200 Israelis, including more than 40 Americans, and prompted Israeli retaliation against Gaza that has since killed more than 50,000 Palestinians. The lawsuit, which targets Masri and his companies, was filed on behalf of nearly 200 American plaintiffs, including survivors and relatives of victims. "Our goal is to expose those who have aided and abetted Hamas and to try and bring accountability to individuals and companies that have presented a legitimate and moderate image to the Western world but have actively and knowingly helped Hamas," Lee Wolosky of the Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP law firm, lead attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in the statement. It said GIE was originally established with the help of U.S. taxpayer funding via the U.S. Agency for International Development to promote economic growth in the region. It said of that "as a result of defendants' deception," Hamas' tunnel network was built with the help of infrastructure and energy projects financed by international institutions, including the World Bank's International Finance Corporation. A statement from Masri's office called the allegations against him and his businesses false and said he would seek their dismissal in court. It said Masri had been involved in development and humanitarian work for the past decades and "unequivocally opposes violence of any kind." "Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy," it said. A March 10 article in the Jerusalem Post cited unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Masri had served as a close adviser to Adam Boehler, U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy seeking release of hostages held in Gaza, and had flown on Boehler's private jet as he shuttled across the region. It called Masri "a seasoned entrepreneur" who "shares a business-minded approach with Trump, making him a natural fit in the administration's economic vision for the region." The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment when asked about the newspaper report. In a Reuters interview in October 2020, when he was 59, Masri spoke in favor of Gulf Arab ties with Israel, condemned by Palestinian leaders, saying they could be an opportunity to apply fresh pressure to halt Jewish settlement in occupied land. When speaking to Reuters in 2020, Masri said Palestinians must not give up hope. "Our enemies want us to give up hope. If we give up hope, they have exactly what they want, and there will be no Palestine, and no Palestinian people," he said.
